Shopping centres of Dhaka

I am not sure I understand what "Hindu trading settlement" means. Pre-Mughal Dhaka was not spread between the river and the Dolai Khal, but in the east-west direction along the Buriganga. The khal was dug by Islam Khan by joining several existing water bodies. Nearly a dozen market places named as pre-Mughal bazaars all indeed originated during the Mughal era. Producers of that period did not only have shops in the same area, but also within the same house. The Chawkbazaar area developed in the late-Mughal period was not necessarily the major shopping area.

The capital was transferred (not removed) in 1704 (not after 1757) to Murshidabad (not Calcutta). Dhaka was the centre of Muslin trading, but most factories were located in Kapasia-Narshingdi-Sonargaon belt.

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Though the city expanded northward during the late-British period (Dilkusha and civil lines in Ramna), there was little expansion of commercial activities. It was rather more residential and administrative-institutional development. The first planned residential area came into being in 1888. Planned-designated industrial developments were set up during the Pakistan period and those were separated from the main city till the 1970s.

New Market was probably not built in 1953, and certainly not following the Dhaka Master Plan, which was prepared in 1959. Its central garden was given up for further development in early 1980s. The Elephant Road (historically from Peelkhana to Begunbari Khal) is not yet mostly encroached by shopping, only that part in proximity to the New Market started being transformed rapidly later than the 1960s.

"Eastern Plaza", the most dominating one with five (not three) shopping floors, certainly was not the first of its kind, but of course became the most popular and the most problematic (on the urban functions). However, transformation of Dhaka's contemporary skyline took place in several phases when mostly commercial spaces became scarce in Motijheel-Dilkusha in the 1980s, and new areas were developed in Karwanbazaar, Banani, and Agargaon.

I am not sure whether it is the commercial demand (for more retail outlets), proximity/accessibility or the high return prospects (from selling) that motivate the developers, as empty places can still be found in the latest developments. The authors failed to identify the latest brand of emphatic developments along the peripheral roads of Dhanmondi, Panthapath, Gulshan Avenue, Uttara, Pragati Sarani and New Elephant Road. They also failed to identify the Rifle Square, though architecturally less inspiring yet providing a newer vocabulary, and many other smaller joints popular to the new generation hangouts. These were results of not only the commercial value as mentioned above, but also diversification of the economy, new clientele, and conversion of previously residential areas into commercial streets by the Rajuk which in fact started in the early 1980s though Rajuk fluctuated between its policy changes.

I am not sure what local materials the authors had in mind, but we have a very few available in the country. Of course this is not a way of defending the heavy dependence on and inappropriate use of imported materials and mechanical means, often found offensive environmentally, economically and culturally. Yet, I would think that many of the new generation architects have shown a flurry of creativity in terms of form and use of materials and at least external beauty, if not in internal space organisation that is the first measure of good architecture. There are yet to come meg-centres like the Bashundhara city, which many apprehend would have a profound impact on both the urban functions and the architecture of the new millennium.

However, the authors have correctly identified the drawbacks of these new developments, the list is endless. I am not sure whether the concerned people are bound by law to follow the Building Code (BNBC 1993) or whether Rajuk has a zoning policy as mentioned. I am also not in unison with all the economic and social concerns raised. However, I would agree with the suggestions, which were not enough unless you show how to implement those by overcoming all the negative forces. I shall hope that in a follow-up the authors would suggest the morphology of the kind of shopping areas they envision as to be culturally and ecologically correct.

Mahbub Rahman PhD is an architect-urban designer